Date: 21 May 2018 CHIEF ARBITER’S REPORT

1. Schedule

The FIDE Women World Championship Match (FWWCCM) played between GM and GM was held according to the time schedule, which was approved in advance and published on the official site of the tournament. The drawing of lots was made during the Opening Ceremony in , People’s Republic of and took place on 2nd of May, 2018 in the Intercontinental Shanghai Hotel. All rounds were started at 15:00 local time. The Match has been divided between two cities in China, Shanghai and , with the following timetable:

2nd May: Arrival Shanghai, opening ceremony 3rd May: round 1 4th May: round 2 5th May: rest day 6th May: round 3 7th May: round 4 8th May: rest day 9th May: round 5 10th / 11th May- Departure to Chongqing 12th May: round 6 13th May: round 7 14th May: rest day 15th May: round 8 16th May: round 9 17th May: rest day 18th May: round 10 19th May: tie-break, closing ceremony 20th May: departure

In the first part of the match, the players played 5 games in Shanghai, and the score was 3,5:1,5 in favour of the challenger, GM Ju WenJun.

The second part of the match consisted of 5 games and the match closed with a final result of 5,5 : 4,5 and GM Ju WenJun became the FIDE Women’s World Champion 2018.

P a g e | 1 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship Match, China 2018 2. Playing Conditions

The playing conditions were good in both cities. A spacious hall, bathrooms located close to the playing hall, good illumination, air conditioning, adequately furnished and equipped FIDE Officials’ and arbiters’ rooms supported the organization of normal conditions for the chess players and the arbiters work. Coffee, tea, soft drinks, fruits and sweets were provided to the participants in a special area at the playing zone

3. Accommodation

All participants (players, officials, etc.) stayed in the five stars Intercontinental Hotel in Shanghai and the Sun Kingdom Hotel in Chongqing. The conditions provided by the hotels were very good, offering good food and very good services and facilities.

4. Drawing of colors

The FWWCCM was played according to the Rules & Regulations for the FIDE Women World Championship Match 2017. Drawing of colours had been made by lot during the Opening Ceremony. GM Ju Wenjun received the white colour in Round 1. - The colour was reversed after game 4.

5. Players Technical Meeting

The Players’ Technical Meeting took place after the opening ceremony of the FWWCCM. During the meeting I announced the match regulations (the time control, 10 minutes in advance presence of both players in a playing hall, restrictions in draw offer, the schedule etc.), as well as all other technical details.

6. Opening & Closing Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony took place on 2nd May, 2018 in the Hall of Intercontinental Shanghai Hotel . The participants and guests were welcomed by officials from Shanghai and China Chess Association. Boris Kutin, Vice-President of FIDE announced match opened. The Chief Arbiter conducted the drawing of colours.

The Closing Ceremony was held in Berlin Hall of Sun Kingdom Hotel in Chongqing. Both measures were perfectly and exceptionally organized. The participants and guests were welcomed by officials from Chongqing and China Chess Association. The Chief Arbiter announced technical result. Boris Kutin, Vice-President of FIDE announced GM Ju WenJun the FIDE Women’s World Champion 2018.

7. Time Control

All the games were played by DGT-3000 electronic clocks approved by FIDE. Normal games Time control for each game was: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 1. Tie-breaks For Tie-breaks the Time Control was the following:

P a g e | 2 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship Match, China 2018 TB 1-4 – 25 minute games with an addition of 10 seconds after each move TB 5-6 – 5 minute games with an addition of 3 seconds after each move TB 7-8 – 5 minute games with an addition of 3 seconds after each move TB 9-10 – 5 minute games with an addition of 3 seconds after each move TB 11-12 – 5 minute games with an addition of 3 seconds after each move TB 13-14 – 5 minute games with an addition of 3 seconds after each move SD – 5 minutes for White and 4 minutes for Black and addition 3 seconds per move from move 61

8. Anti-cheating measures

A metal control was installed on the doorway excluding the entry of players with cell phones or other electronic means of communication to the tournament hall and playing zone. Every round both players had been scanned by a hand metal-detector.

The games were additionally screened every day by Professor Kenneth W. Regan using the same software intended for automatic use as the PGN Screening Tool but taking the manual step of uploading the game files, activating his scripts, and placing the reports in a private viewing area. The reports identified no positive indications of what could be cheating.

9. Appeals Committee

The members of the Appeals Committee were: Chairman: Boris Kutin (SLO) Members: Yang Junan(CHI), (CHI) No appeal was submitted.

10. Press-Centre

The Press-Centre staff, leading by Press-officer Ms. Gu Xiao bing (China) carried out an outstanding work on a high level. Every day they took interviews from the players. The cooperation with the players was excellent.

11. Games’ transmission

All games of FWWCCM 2018 were played on the electronic boards and transmitted on the Internet through the official website of the event with 30 minutes delay of transmission.

12. Technical equipment

Electronic board and clock of DGT-3000 were used for the games. The programming of these devices was well operated.

13. Organizing Staff

The Organizing Committee showed great hospitality in organizing the FWWCCM 2018 on such a high level. The whole Organizing staff did their best to work jointly and to achieve high standards. I would like to send special thanks to Mrs. Tian Hongwei and Mrs. Li Kaimin for their passion and co-operation during all event.

P a g e | 3 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship Match, China 2018 I highly appreciate also that Mr. Zhu Jiaqi (China) was acting as Deputy Chief Arbiter and thank him for his excellent cooperation during the whole tournament.

All the relevant information of the event is included in the attached documents.

14. Recommendations:

A number of items which were missing in the regulations had to be interpreted based on previous experience and it is recommended that FIDE World Championship and Olympiad Commission put the following changes in place to facilitate compliance with future regulations:

1. Zero tolerance. This time we had following explanation: 3.8.2 Before the start of play, the players shall arrive at least ten (10) minutes for security check. But there is no penalty or meaning of losing the game, if player will come 5 minutes before or 5 minutes later. I strongly recommend to add a zero tolerance regulation to the official rules.

2. Draw offers or no requirement – same, not in the rules; 3. Add procedure for drawing of lots in the regulations 4. Dress-code. I strongly offer to add official style dress code (black or dark blue suit );

15. Conclusion

The FWWCCM 2018, held in Shanghai/Chongqing, China, was organized at the highest level and good standards for this event. All requirements mentioned in the FIDE Handbook for organizing this top-level chess Tournament, were completely fulfilled. I would like to mention that both players and their teams showed great sportsmanship and excellent fairplay throughout the whole event.

I would also like to thank very much the FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos for giving me the opportunity to be the Chief Arbiter in this very important chess event. It was a great honor for me.

Anastasia Sorokina FWWCCM 2018 Chief Arbiter

P a g e | 4 FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship Match, China 2018